Dawn

Dawn

Friday, October 26, 2012


Telefonica have sent me a letter congratulating me for opting to move to a paper-free billing system. Which I might be pleased about if I knew anything about it. I'm guessing they sent me a letter months ago saying they'd be taking this decision for me if I didn't reply by a certain date. The old inertia ploy. Still, my wi-fi is working OK (though never at the promised level of one mega) and that's the most important thing.

I see the Spanish Tax Office (La Hacienda) has joined me in predicting that the recent VAT increases will lead to a larger black market. But, then, you'd have to be an imbecile not to expect this.

Talking about predictions . . . Did the founders of the EU and their successors anticipate that 'an ever closer union' and 'the convergence of economies' within a currency union would lead to the degree of pain currently being felt in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain? Or did they only look so far ahead and decide to make it up as they went along from there? I suspect they knew from the outset but I may be crediting them with too much intelligence and foresight. Perhaps The Grand Plan was to do whatever it took to implement whatever would have been The Grand Plan if they'd been smart enough to define it at the outset. If you see what I mean.

Talking of Spain . . . Here's a nice summary of the political situation here, from Paddy Woodworth of the Irish Times. As he says at the end of his article - Spain’s triple crisis calls out for a leadership that speaks empathetically and compellingly across party, class and national identities. Unfortunately, that is not a style one associates with Rajoy. To which I would only add – Does one associate any style with the Great Procrastinator?

While I'm naming journalists, I'm indebted to Fiona Govan of the Daily Telegraph for two interesting snippets of news, which have a whiff of medievality about them:-
  1. In the context of two paternity test demands, the Spanish courts have said that the King can't be bothered by these as, under the Spanish Constitution, he is 'inviolable' and “cannot be held accountable”. What, not even if he shot his wife? So, no Rule of Law in Spain?
  2. A lesbian is seeking damages for her imprisonment in 1974, when the court report ran “The daughter of an honourable family, MCD shows clear signs of homosexual orientation, and has had impure relations with another young woman whom she dominates, pursues and attracts. She is a rebel and disobeys her family and threatens them when they try to correct her and bring her up properly. She is a danger to her family and to society." The rag end of the Spanish Inquisition, I guess.
One of my guests – prior to being rudely woken by Nice-but-Noisy Toni this morning - was previously disturbed by barking dogs in the middle of the night. So I was pleased to be able to show him this report from fellow blogger Lenox this morning:- A town in Huelva has issued a new municipal law - that no household within city limits may have more than one dog, two cats and a couple of budgies. Better still, dogs are not allowed to bark between ten at night and eight in the morning. I hope the town's dogs can read.

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